TORMENT OF AN ARCHBISHOP.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 June 1924, Page 3

TORMENT OF AN ARCHBISHOP.

MGR. CIEFLAK’S PRISON NARRATIVE. LONDON, April 14. , (RIGA, Sunday). An aged man with a long flowing heard and snow-white hair which hung to his shoulders, hatless and coatless and clad in torn and dirty vestments of a priest, knocked on The door ot the house of the priests of Alexaieff Roman Catholic Church here early on Friday morning. Bishop Transtins opened the door and waited for the visitor to speak. The wanderer shook his head. "Even my pupil does not recognise me.” he said. “Archbishop Cieplak!” exclaimed the Latvian bishop, and they embraced. Two hours later the Archbishop could not have been recognised by his follow, traveller who had paid his faro to Riga from the Latvian border, lie had bathed and had had his "hair cut and his beard shaved oil’. Clad in tlie robes of hi' office, he held a thanksgiving .Mass. .MESSAGES IN GAOL. ialter in the day he olliiated at High Mass in the cathedral, at which all the Roman Catholic clergy ol Riga were present. Afterwards, his lace pinched and yellow from under-nourTshment, his starved body bent with the fatigue of his journov from Moscow sitting on a hard wooden bench of a third-class coach, the Archbishop proved tnat his spirit had boon unbroken by tho brutal treatment of his Bolshevist gaolers, by smiling at those who came to greet him and by joking about his captivity. When asked if he hail felt extremely hungry in prison he replied, “No, I am used to fasting, but I must admit that the oeiasional packages of loot! which members of my flock seal to me were welcome. Occasionally I was permitted In receive messages and for a time I was allowed to buy .Soviet newspapers with money I sometimes lotind in my letters.” FATE OF OTHER PRIESTS. In the newspapers, the Archbishop said, he occasionally saw his name mentioned. This cheered him. lor in his long periods oi solitary confinement fie grew afraid I lint, his companions and himself had been forgotten. lie does not know where his brother prie'ls are imprisoned. He has not seen them since the trial last April. He does not know whether they are alive or dead. Frequently his gaolers asked him il he would sign a confession—similar to that signed hv the Patriarch ’liklton—stating that he had been guilty ot nuiiitor-revolutionary activities, mid swearing his allegiance to the Atheis-tic-Uoimuunisl Government ol Russia. He always refused, although he knew that his signature would mean his freedom. The Archbishop’s own account ol his imprisonment and treatment is as billows :

I have been imprisoned for H> months. Alter being sentenced to death with my brother priests last April I was confined with them in Lubianka Prison awaiting execution. Each of us was in solitary confinement. .MISSING PROFESSOR. I spent weeks in lasting and prayer. One day I was taken from my cell to another prison, where I was confined in a small room with 28 prisoners. There I was permitted to receive newspapers and an occasional message. One day one ot the guards saw me talking with another prisoner, a professor. The next day the professor was taken from his cell ami he disappeared. After this other prisoners were afraid lo speak to me, and I was afraid to speak to them because I feared they would also disappear. All this time I did not know my sentence had been commuted lo imprisonment. I felt sure l'wii- to he exe-.-uI*•;I and I tlvmgbl ea-h day was my

I received the regular prison rations, w hich consist of a pound of black bread dailv, supplemented by hot water three times a day. some thin soup for dinner, and a howl of porridge fur supper. During most of my interment I was Item in solitary confinement. Hall an hour cadi day I was permitted to walk in Hie prison conn yard. Three weeks ago I was taken back lo Luluan.cn Prison. There I was isolated. No messages or newspapers were permitted. I thought the end was IN A THIRD-GLASS CARRIAGE. Last Wednesday two armed soldiers to iiiv «-*-11 JUiil ol'li’rotl f * l * * t '* lew them. To my surprise, we lelt the building and entered a closed motorcar. We arrived nl the railway station, when my guards ordered me into a third-class compartment. | did not know where we were. I thought we were on the way to a provincial prison. My guards shared theii ration of black bread with me. 11l the morning the train stopped and I was ordered out. I stood awaitiii" mv guards and an official approached asking what baggage I was bringing into Latvia. Only then 1 realised that I was free. One soldier returned and handed me a slip of paper announcing my expulsion from Russia and hearing the Latvian visa. I had no money and no land, Imt a. young Latvian, hearing of mv plight, brought me food and a ticket to Riga. The departure I'rohi Riga of the Archbishop was a great contrast to fils arrival. Ills arms filled with Mowers, tears streaming down his cheeks, and surrounded by several bundled Roman Catholics, he left lor Warsaw on his way to Rome, where he will tell the Pope the story of his imprisonment ami sufi'erings.— Daily Mail correspondent.